My Bloody Shame

I hide my tampon in my sleeve before going out to change it, so nobody sees it. I see advertisements for menstrual pads, that are telling me just how good their brand is at hiding that I menstruate. Clear blue liquid drips onto the pad that quickly absorbs the fluid. It doesn’t even approximately look like what’s flowing out of my uterus once a month. I’ll never understand who decides what I should be ashamed of, and why I should be ashamed. But I know that I refuse.